The present invention relates to generation of a voice output for use in a card-based automatic transaction system and in particular, to a method and apparatus for providing a voice output based on the hearing sensitivity or hearing level of a card user for an automatic teller machine, such as, an automatic cash dispenser, a telephone or an automatic ticket vending machine.
Among the users of an automatic teller machine (referred to as an ATM herebelow), many persons, e.g. handicapped persons are not familiar with the operation thereof. These users take a long period of time for the input operation and hence a considerable time to complete the input; consequently, when a time-out takes place during the input operation, the operation is ordinarily guided or indicated by voice. However, those persons not familiar with the operation of the ATM include persons having a lowered sense of sight or having difficulty in hearing (i.e. deafness) in many cases, and hence the guidance and indication by a voice with a volume and a quality each set to predetermined average values do not effectively serve for such users. In the conventional ATM, the operation thereof is guided and indicated by a fixed amount of artificial output speech or voice regardless of the condition of the user (deaf) having difficulty in hearing.
For example, as described in the JP-A-No. 59-149560, a prior art apparatus for guiding ATM operations by voice includes a speech synthesizing LSI for producing a speech output in which a selection is made between the fixed words predetermined for the items of an ID and an account number and the variable words including a name read from the card, an input amount, and an amount of payment, thereby achieving an operation guidance for the user.
The JP-A-No. 60-10387 discloses an automatic transaction system for handicapped persons which includes a display unit with braille pins and which is capable of handling a transaction card including a record indicating that the user is a person having difficulty of the sense of sight. In the former, each word information is stored at a specified memory address, and when a predetermined instruction is issued, information is fetched from the memory to generate a voice output, namely, this technology relates to a method for generating words of the operation guidance. Moreover, in the latter, the transaction cards are classified into two types, namely, for the sound persons and for the visually handicapped persons, and when a card is installed in the apparatus, the card is judged to determine the type thereof. For a card of a visually handicapped person, the user identification is first confirmed and the guidance is conducted for the secret number entry and the transaction amount entry in this sequence.
However, the system of the JP-A-No. 59-149560 is not particularly designed for those who have difficulty in hearing, namely, this system generates a voice output in various cases. For example, if a user inadvertently leaves an article in the ATM, a speech message of variable words is announced as "Mr. (Ms.) X, you have an article left behind. Please contact the window teller." In addition, the system of the JP-A-No. 60-10387 is not oriented for those who have difficulty in hearing or those who has deteriorated sense of sight but the system is dedicated to the use by the visually handicapped persons. Since the conventional apparatus including these systems achieve the voice output with the fixed volume and tone quality, considerations have not been given for those who have difficulty in hearing and for those who have lowered hearing sensitivity.